Learned components of courtship: A focus on postural displays, choreographies and construction abilities

Abstract

Research into learning of courtship behavior remains largely confined to birdsong and vocal learning studies. Yet, visually communicated aspects of courtship displays are widespread and prominent, and also deserve consideration. Postural displays, choreographies, and construction of display arenas are all visual signal components mediated by motor activity of the displayer. The goal of this review is to present growing evidence for learning of courtship motor patterns other than song. We tackle two main challenges: we first highlight criteria that can be used to determine whether visual courtship components are learned, and if so, we then assess the type of learning involved. In line with the vocal learning literature, we suggest applying a distinction between usage learning and production learning of motor patterns: usage learning refers to a change in the context in which pre-existing display patterns are used, whereas production learning involves modification in trait structure, i.e. the acquisition of novel display patterns from a model. The effects of imitation, social feedback, and practice are described in detail, drawing on multiple examples from birdsong research. Our goals are to illustrate the learning processes which may affect motor development of courtship signals, to formulate testable predictions for each learning category and related mechanisms, and to suggest possible lines for future research. Although most of the evidence we review here is indirect and not yet conclusive about learning, recent technological advances now provide novel tools to quantify courtship motor patterns, and thus have the potential to produce more direct insights into whether, and how, courtship displays are learned.